Humpy has another one of his ideas

Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler is calling for NASCAR to add greater entertainment value to its qualifying format by placing more than one car on the racetrack at once. Wheeler told ESPN.com Saturday that attendance for LMS pole day has steadily declined since 2001, and anticipates NASCAR will make some sort of alteration for 2008. "It needs more drama," Wheeler said. "I understand why they do it, but the fact that you've already got 35 people [guaranteed] qualified takes a lot of that [drama] out. I think [NASCAR realizes] something needs to be done. It remains to be seen what, but I think something will be done next year." Wheeler is alluding to NASCAR's Top-35 rule, which guarantees a starting position in each race to every car ranked among the top-35 in car owner points. Therefore, even if they're slower than some other cars attempting to qualify they still make the show. NASCAR officials are aware of this concern, and said they will evaluate qualifying procedures following the season. But he thinks the best option is placing multiple cars on the track at once. He said he's thrown out ideas to NASCAR "for a couple years." One of which, he said, is to host four, 15-minute sessions, each including 25 percent of the cars in the field. Whoever is fastest overall wins the pole. ESPN.com